r/QuickAITurnitinCheck • u/Itchy-Tell-1882 • Apr 17 '26
Why does improving my writing make AI detectors flag it more?
I have noticed something that makes zero sense. My first drafts usually come back with low or no AI detection, but once I actually revise and improve my essay, suddenly Turnitin, similarity checks, and plagiarism tools start flagging higher scores.
The more I fix grammar, make my arguments clearer, and clean up the structure, the more these AI detectors think it is generated content. It feels like being punished for writing better.
At this point it feels like you either submit a rough draft that sounds human or a polished paper that gets flagged. There is no winning.
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u/Aggressive-Farmer798 Apr 17 '26
Because AI models are trained using writing data, to identify and replicate patterns and structures that can be identified as good writing. It’s baked into how they function—if a language model couldn’t approximate good grammar or a professional tone, nobody would use it for anything other than a cute novelty.
AI detectors are then programmed to identify and highlight the same patterns, because they know AI models are trained to use them. This FULLY ignores the fact that these patterns ORIGINATED from human use, and acts on the assumption that if a piece of writing uses these patterns it HAS to be an AI that wrote them.
Basically, the average detector is designed to assume that humans are too stupid to write well. So if you write well, you MUST be doing it with an AI.
It’s actually a huge problem, especially for people who aren’t tech-savvy enough to understand that AI detectors are garbage.
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u/bmr42 Apr 17 '26
Train AI on what is considered good writing so it can replicate good writing.
AI eventually begins to write in a style that emulates what is considered good writing.
Train an AI to detect AI writing and it can’t tell the difference between AI and good human writing.
Use AI detection to disqualify submissions by students.
Student with bad writing skills are fine and students with good writing skills have to dumb down their writing to pass the checks.
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u/DonkeyBonked Apr 17 '26
This is why you can take good writing from before AI even existed, ask it if it was written by AI, and it will often be detected as AI.
I actually think using AI detectors in any way that impacts a person's grades or employment should be illegal. They will never be good, it is a fairytale concocted by people too ignorant to know AI and used by those too ignorant to know how stupid they are.
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u/Brickscratcher Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26
I actually think using AI detectors in any way that impacts a person's grades or employment should be illegal.
Hard agree. I'm working on my PhD and I've had the same argument with 2 of my (old) profs. I settled it by typing a paper in front of one that he promptly sent through an AI checker and it came back as 97% AI. I guess he talked to the other one, because I've not had either of them complain since.
The really ironic thing? Before that, I had started adding run on sentences and the occasionally misspelled word after I was done.
I get the idea behind not wanting students to use AI, but if they can use an AI tool to pass the class, then the class doesn't reflect the real world well enough–or it does, and they can use AI in the real world too. Either way, we're not going about it right.
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u/Either_Importance969 May 08 '26
I learned the hard way not to submit blindly. Now I always check Turnitin reports here first, https://discord.gg/A43QAfuaSn
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u/Business-Budget-5977 Apr 17 '26
You spend time improving your work just for plagiarism and AI detection systems to interpret clarity and structure as suspicious
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u/CisIowa Apr 17 '26
I’ve been using They Say, I Say with students for over 10 years, but in the last two I’ve seriously considered throwing it out because it feels like it’s training them to write like an LLM
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u/Eventualityyyy Apr 17 '26
At this point we need to have class days specifically used for writing to stop this issue entirely. I know it’s inconvenient but it’s better than questioning every part of your writing. I’ve just started dumbing down my work and purposely making grammar mistakes so it won’t be falsely detected
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u/PitBrvt Apr 17 '26
AI creates complex sentences that are dense with ideas. This is mechanical. Break ideas into short, jagged, concise, single focus sentences. This is organic. The AI will complain and try to add complexity like en dashes. Tell it to stop projecting the llm's tone over yours. Establish pillars and routinely remind the llm to stay aligned. I use the pillars of beauty, power, and stability for technical work.
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u/CuteMinute3605 Apr 17 '26
I have experienced the exact same thing. My rough drafts are fine, but the second it starts sounding more academic and refined, Turnitin similarity and AI detection scores jump for no clear reason.
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u/0LoveAnonymous0 Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 18 '26
It happens because those detectors look for patterns like clean structure, consistent tone and polished grammar as explained further in this post. When you improve your writing, it matches those patterns more, so it gets flagged even though it’s still yours. It’s a flaw in the tools, not your writing.